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Robert Story
Robert Story (17 October 1795 - 7 July 1860) was an English poet, known as the "Craven poet."Robert Story (poet), Wikipedia, July 10, 2017, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, June 16, 2018. Life Story was born at Wark, Northumberland, the son of Robin Story (died 14 May 1809), a Northumbrian peasant, and Mary (Hooliston), a native of Lauder in Scotland. He was educated at Wark school under Mr. Kinton, with whom he made rapid progress, and then at Crookham, where he was tempted to play truant by a lame fiddler.Seccombe, 430. About 1807 he commenced work as a gardener, but found more congenial service as a shepherd, an occupation commemorated in one of his best lyrics, "Pours the spring on Howdsden yet." In the summer of 1810 he began to teach the elements in a school at Humbleton, and studied with ardour the verses of Isaac Watts and Anna Laetitia Barbauld. He subsequently served in various schools, where his accent excited derision. He was ambitious to follow the plough, like Burns, but after some intermittent field labour, in the intervals of which he corrected the proofs of his ill-conceived poem on The Harvest (1816), he returned to teaching. In 1820 he eventually started a successful school on his own account at Gargrave in Yorkshire, his home for over 20 years. There, on 17 May 1823 (having discarded in turn several "rustic loves" apostrophised in early poems), he married Ellen Ellison, by whom he had a large family. About 1825 he made the acquaintance of John Nicholson, the Airedale poet, in emulation of whom Story issued a small volume of verse entitled Craven Blossoms (1826, 8vo). He augmented his income by acting as parish clerk and by contributions to the Newcastle papers.Seccombe, 431. But about 1830 his prosperity was rudely interrupted. At the time of the reform agitation Story signalised himself by strong partisanship on the conservative side. His views were obnoxious to the parents of most of his pupils; on various pretexts the children were removed, and the schoolmaster was persecuted in numerous ways. His imprudent attempts at resistance involved him in debt. He met with some success in selling a volume of verse entitled the Magic Fountain, written in 1829, and his hopes were wildly excited by the applause which attended his poetic rallying cry to the conservative party, entitled The Isles are Awake (1834). In 1843 the conservative members of parliament for the West Riding obtained from Sir Robert Peel a small post for Story in the audit office. For 2 years he had depended mainly upon the help of his friends and the sale among them of his new volume entitled The Outlaw (London, 1839 12mo). In 1842 he issued an autobiographic medley called Love and Literature (London, 8vo), which again had a fair sale, mainly in the West Riding and in Northumberland, where he had found a warm friend in William Gourley, a self-taught mathematician. In London he had a struggle to make ends meet, and suffered greatly by the loss of 4 of his children; but his literary productiveness went on. In 1845 appeared a volume of Songs and Lyrical Poems (London, 8vo; 3rd edit. 1849), and in 1852 a versified tale of the Heptarchy, Guthrum the Dane. In 1854 he visited Paris and was presented to Napoleon III as a successor of Burns. In 1857 the Duke of Northumberland issued at his own expense a sumptuous edition of Story's Poetical Works (Newcastle, 1857, 8vo). The beauty of the volume seems to have disarmed the critics, for not only did Macaulay and Aytoun signify their approbation, but Thomas Carlyle as well. Story died at Battersea on 7 July 1860, and was buried in Brompton cemetery. Writing In November 1857, Thomas Carlyle detected in Story's Poetical Works "a certain rustic vigour of life, breezy freshness, as of the Cheviot Hills." This is notably the case in a few of the lyrics, intimately inspired by the localities of the poet's youth, such as "The wild thyme still blossoms in green Homil-heugh;" but, broadly speaking, one is less impressed by the distinctive merit of Story's poems than by the courage and success with which he set about selling them with a view to relieve himself of the debts by which he was at all times encumbered. Recognition A posthumous selection of his Poems, containing a short "Life" by John Janes, was published in 1861. Publications Poetry *''The Harvest: A poem''. 1816. *''Craven Blossoms; or, Poems chiefly connected with the district of Craven. Skipton, Yorkshire, UK: Tasker, 1826. *''The Magic Fountain, with other poems. London: W. Crofts, 1829. *''The Rose of the World: A Craven tale''. London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1833. *''The Isles are Awake''. 1834. *''Songs and Lyrical Poems''. Liverpool: privately published, 1845; 2nd edition, London: James Fraser, 18--? **enlarged as [https://archive.org/details/songsandpoemsby00storgoog/page/n5 Songs and Poems, 3rd edition]. London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, 1849. *''Guthrum the Dane: A tale of the heptarchy, in six cantos. London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, 1852. *''The Third Napoleon: An ode to Alfred Tennyson, Esq., poet laureate. London: John Hearne, 1854. *''Poetical Works. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, 1857. *Lyrical and Other Minor Poems'' (edited by John James). London: Longman, Green, Longman, & Roberts, 1861. Play *''The Outlaw: A drama, in three acts. London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1839. Non-fiction *''Love and Literature: Being the reminiscences, literary opinions, and fugitive pieces of a poet in humble life. London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, 1842. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Robert Story, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Dec. 6, 2016. See also *List of British poets References * . Wikisource, Web, Dec. 6, 2016. Notes External links ;Poems *Elegaic Stanzas *"Lines on seeing a favourite Tree felled and lopped" *2 poems by Story: "An Autumnal Thought," "To Spring" ;About *Robert Story (1795-1860) at English Poetry, 1579-1830 Story, Robert (1795-1860) Category:1795 births Category:1860 deaths Category:19th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:English poets Category:Poets Category:English schoolteachers Category:Christian poets